Disappearing icons

I upgraded my Win7 to Win10 without any problems. Shortly thereafter all the desktop icons disappeared, although the names of the folders are still there. Also, all the non-Windows icons in the taskbar have disappeared although a generic sort of icons have remained but you have to hover the mouse over them to find out which they are.

I haven't come across anything like this before. Any ideas what could have caused this? The PC is up to date and virus/malware free. It is a Lenovo ThinkPad with 4GB RAM.

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Thanks for that, davidhk, a very interesting site, never heard of it before. Unfortunately, neither solution worked which is most unusual and disappointing. No idea what is causing the problem, icons were fine after the upgrade but then vanished.

But would that restore just the 5 Windows icons? I've lost all the icons including folders and also the icons on the taskbar which were pinned there as START icons. They were replaced by some generic icon (all the same) and you have to hover the mouse over them to see which is which.

Thanks for that, davidhk, a very interesting site, never heard of it before. Unfortunately, neither solution worked which is most unusual and disappointing. No idea what is causing the problem, icons were fine after the upgrade but then vanished.

Scroll down to Select Edition > click the pointer at the right and select Windows 10 > click Confirm.
Click the pointer and select Language > make sure you pick the same language the computer is now running > click Confirm
Select the bit version, 32 or 64-bit. Make sure you select the same bit version as the computer is now running.
At the bottom, click the pointer next to Save > click Save As > navigate to a folder of your choice > click the chosen folder > click Save
The iso will start downloading to your chosen folder.
When it is done, go to that folder > open the folder > right click at the iso file > click Mount > click Setup.exe
Installation will begin.
It will allow you to keep you files, settings and apps.
No product key is required.
Activation will be automatic.

This sounds very similar to what Microsoft (who took over my other computer) did to me when they reinstalled W10 and in the process they wiped out EVERYTHING, despite selecting taking all my files, settings etc. with it. I'm still trying to reinstall all the files, folders and apps I lost in that little debacle. So, no thanks, it's too risky. I'd rather go iconless than programsless and foldersless. Why don't I trust W10? They don't even have a simple way to restore icons on the desktop. Read Post 1057886 in this forum.

This sounds very similar to what Microsoft (who took over my other computer) did to me when they reinstalled W10 and in the process they wiped out EVERYTHING, despite selecting taking all my files, settings etc. with it. I'm still trying to reinstall all the files, folders and apps I lost in that little debacle. So, no thanks, it's too risky. I'd rather go iconless than programsless and foldersless. Why don't I trust W10? They don't even have a simple way to restore icons on the desktop. Read Post 1057886 in this forum.

I will not mince words.
The "Microsoft Support" people who took remote control over your computer are NOT necessarily all competent enough for the job. In fact it was a bad idea to let ANYONE to take remote control over your computer unless you have absolute100% trust on that person's competency and trustworthiness.

The suggestion I gave you in post #7 is not just passing on an information.
I had used it a few times myself on my own computers.
It worked as advertised.

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The "Microsoft Support" people who took remote control over your computer are NOT necessarily all competent enough for the job.

I couldn't agree with you more. This was a "Level 2" tech and I could have taught him a few things. But these people actually created W10, you would think they knew SOMETHING about the system. Well, I've learnt my lesson but you can appreciate why I'm so cautious now. I have a spare (test) computer which is used only for testing software, etc. (I'm a retired computer tech and was the town's tech until I became paraplegic) so I will try it on that first and see what happens. It's not you I don't trust: it's W10 and what it may do.